Bienvenido a Miami

Wednesday September 23, 2009

Good morning Boca! (I’ve learned to drop the Raton as the locals do. Very refined, I know.)

It’s 9:30am and we have 2.5 hours to see the beach and take in the resort grounds. Time for a quick breakfast and out the door! We caught the shuttle and waited very patiently as a 75 year old lady and her husband couldn’t get over the driver’s ‘beautiful gold watch and bracelet’. This resort unapologetically hires based on profile more than I’ve ever seen anywhere else. Shuttle drivers are old black men (I couldn’t find Miss Daisy), cleaning ladies are latino or black women, valet and frontline security are young white guys. You get the idea.

The main lobby and building are amazing. It’s an incredibly old original structure that has been eaten up by the new in places. The cool part is that they have retained the old original walls within the new parts.
We checked out the indoor/outdoor spaces which I know my sister Tannis would have thoroughly appreciated. We also saw numerous fountains and the croquet lawn. After that we hopped the shuttle again to the beach club. This was another monster again. Absolutely beautiful. Numerous sitting rooms, cafe, restaurant, 3 pools and of course, the beachfront.

The beach itself was really nice. However the waves were pretty rough and it got deep fast with a formidable riptide. We stayed pretty close to shore. I also saw a baby jellyfish washed up on the shoreline which freaked Roel out a bit (I shouldn’t have told him). The sand was light brown and medium-fine. The water was a dark Caribbean green and nice and warm. Didn’t flinch for a moment when getting in...nothing to get used to there. However it wasn’t so warm that it didn’t refresh you. We took a quick dip in the main pool and showered off before heading back to the room to pack up.

Next stop was Miami airport as Roel has a store there. I spent an hour+ walking the terminal and observing the energy at the arrivals vs departures, who ate at which restaurants, which airline had the most efficient ground crew and the best looking fight attendants (fyi – Alitalia appeared to be the most friendly & helpful).

After that we made our way to our next temporary home: Hotel Gansevoort in South Beach, Miami Beach. The most beautifully trendy establishment I’ve ever laid eyes on, sorry W. Through one of Roel’s many connections we got hooked up with a sweet suite which probably would have been close to half a paycheque back home. Did I just say home? Weird. This place is the definition of trendy. No one will stay here 10 years from now unless they continue to reinvent every 5 years. In the mean time it’s incredibly sexy and alluring. I’ll save you my lengthy description and just provide you with a link: http://www.gansevoortsouth.com/rooms-suites/index.cfm.

We went for a swim in the rooftop pool and ordered some over-priced appies. Beautiful pool and view.

We went back to the room and from our beach front view balcony we could see a rain storm approaching. We could see the wall of water slowly closing in on land. We hurried as much as we could and made it back down to the beach before it hit! It rained moderately hard for about three minutes and cleared up. haha All smoke and no fire. The cool rain made the ocean feel like a hot tub. God bless hurricane season water temperatures. We played amongst the crashing waves while the giant diving pelicans plummeted for their catch beside us. The sand here is pure white and relatively fine.

We took it easy for evening with a long nap (I blame the draining humidity for all the naps). Those who know me well know that I’ll take any excuse for a nap. Ended the day with picking up some groceries and made a midnight stir fry.